Alabama Rest Periods: What you need to know

Federal wage and hour law does not require that employees be provided either paid or unpaid rest or meal periods. Whether breaks are required is left up to the states. Alabama has no provisions requiring meal or rest periods, except for minors.

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U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division regulations do specify when work breaks that are provided, including meal periods, rest periods, and sleeping time, must be counted as work time subject to federal minimum wage and overtime requirements (29 CFR 785.18 through 785.23). There are details on these requirements.

Minors. Minors 14 or 15 years of age may not be employed for more than 5 hours continuously without a meal or rest period of at least 30 minutes. Any meal or rest period less than 30 minutes is not considered to interrupt a continuous period of work (AL Code Sec. 25-8-38).

Record retention is complex and time consuming. However, in addition to complying with various federal and state laws, keeping good, well-organized records can be very helpful in documenting and supporting an organization’s employment actions.
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This special report will discuss how you can ensure your records are in good order, and establish a record-retention policy.